Hey guys, welcome back! Just a quick post to say hiya and to let you know that I’m happy you’re here.
Today is my birthday and while it was a lot more subdued than many of my past ones, it was still a nice one. Just vegging out and relaxing, having some treats and loving the messages from friends and family.
Not too long ago, I was out celebrating for the entire month and lucky if I remembered what happened. Our group’s celebrations were pretty much drunken evenings filled with a ton of laughter and lots of shots and boy, how I miss those times!
This year though, being sick, I’ve been laying low and frankly, that’s ok. Still doing my thing, getting in extra reading and writing time and watching Clark W. Griswold try to give his family a Merry Christmas despite what Uncle Eddie does. 😬
I ask that in honor of my day and if you can spare it (I know not many can these days), please donate something to your favorite charity. I’m personally a huge animal lover so that’s always a plus, but you do you.
Also, while I usually save this for the end of a post, I’m picking my day to share this and frankly, have no shame…you are looking to shop online for the upcoming season, be sure to check out the links I have all over this site. From my shops that can be found in the sidebar or linked below) to the On the Bookshelf pages where you can find some new reading inspiration, not only can you find great gift ideas, but you will also help support this site and in turn, myself. Little known fact that my online gigs are my only income, so every little bit helps. Again, if you can’t, totally get it. This year has been a rough one. So why not come and just check out my social links then?
Hey guys, welcome back! Yes, I slacked off here again. (Sorry) Some life stuff happened and sometimes that’s just how it goes. However, I’m still here and admittedly listening to holiday music as I write this…yes, I’m one of those. 😬
Anywhoo, I’ve been working hard on the book and tonight, I think I finally figured out how I’m going to not only get the word count down significantly, but also how to change the timeline a little. Right now, the story is supposed to take place in a month’s time. That may need to change, or better yet, I need to reel it in. Either way, I’m going to have to work it like a puzzle. Breaking up the entire manuscript and piecing it together bit by bit.
Quick segue here…a little known fact by those who know me now, I used to be a theater person. I majored in it in college and also worked in a professional theater for a few years. This was many years ago, but I still have a great love of shows, both musicals and straight plays. (Hamilton has taken over my brain and is on repeat now on the Disney+ app.) I tell you this because a song that can invade my brain is one from an old show called Sunday in the Park with George. The song Putting it Together has come to the surface as I work on this book. Why? Check out these lyrics:
Bit by bit putting it together,
piece by piece, only way to make a work of art
every moment makes a contribution
every little detail plays a part
having the vision’s no solution
everything depends on execution
putting it together
that’s what counts.
Seriously? Why that is not the anthem of every creative person in the world is a mystery. So as I move around chapters, rewrite character monologues and create new scenarios for a book that technically is already written, yes, this song has been taking up residence in my brain and making me a little crazier than usual. Still, all hail Stephen Sondheim for writing it.
I had no idea when writing this book that I’d be doing this at all. Taking chapters and moving them around. Taking full paragraphs and adding them to another ‘day’ in the life of these characters. Losing it a little here and there as I cut full pages and cursing myself for having written so much in the first place. I am now understanding the writer trope of being a full on alcoholic. It’s both satisfying and infuriating watching what I created be changed in such ways. And this is even before a true editor gets a hold of it!
What makes it even more brutal is that one of my favorite activities in life is taking long walks. I was always a walker and used to walk 15-20 miles a week, sometimes more, before I got sick 9 years ago. Especially now that I’ve had another setback, this is not in the cards for me, so walking off the frustrations isn’t a possibility. It doubly sucks because I used to get great ideas and have revelations during these nighttime walks. I’d suddenly figure out a plot point or backstory or a line that I’ve been struggling with, rush home and get it down before I could lose the idea. Now it happens while I sleep, or rather try to sleep…sometimes I get lucky and it happens while I’m washing dishes or showering. At least I’m awake and aware during those times.
Am I rambling again? You betcha! I’m struggling like crazy to make an internal deadline and as I cannot scream out loud, I shall rant about it here. So here’s the deal, as I cannot give you all a group hug for following along with my insanity, I ask that those of you who are reading this, treat yourself to something fun. Get yourself some of your favorite ice cream, get that book you’ve been keeping in your save for later, take that trip, buy yourself a present before the gift giving season hits hard. Do something just for YOU.
We are all working towards some kind of goal. No matter what it is, we need to remember to take a break, clear the mind and enjoy life for a little bit. My own personal escape is reading and I make time every night to knock out a few chapters. Now it’s your turn. One of these days, I hope to have a more entertaining and funny post than I have been giving you lately. In the meantime, I want to make sure that you guys take time for yourselves and get some enjoyment out of this thing called life. The stress will always be there (sorry) and if we don’t take the time to enjoy ourselves, what’s it all for?
And that is where I’m leaving you for today. As always, I thank you SO much for being here and here’s to treating ourselves!
Hey guys, welcome back and welcome to November! I am still in shock that it is already nearing the end of the year as in my mind, it’s still September. However, I love this time of the year and have been slowly transitioning from the Fall/Halloween decorations to the holiday stuff. Some may say it’s too early and I really do not care. If it makes you happy, you do it. And seeing our place decked out in thousands of lights always makes me happy.
Anywhoo, let’s get on with it shall we?
First off, hope everyone had a lot of fun and had some trick or treaters over Halloween. We had none, yet we bought enough candy for the entire city. (We like to be prepared.) I am one for traditions and do the same things every year. The only one I really flaked on though was my annual screening of the original Halloween. I like to make a game (used to be a drinking game but, meds) out of how many times PJ Soles says ‘totally.’ Trust me, it’s a lot and you can get one hell of a buzz off doing it. This year, I wasn’t feeling the movie though. I watched the first twenty minutes and went back to Big Bang reruns. Halloween was always huge with me. Loved dressing up, going to parties, going to our favorite bars and man, did my group of friends know how to do it up right! Miss those days, but that’s ok. I still celebrate in my own way and it is all a part of the best time of the year: Sept. 1st- Dec. 31st. Now, I’m looking forward to this month, thanksgiving, my birthday and letting the holiday season seep into my very soul…it’s what makes me, me.
So enough of that stuff, what about the book? Well, I’m stuck. Like super stuck. I’m in yet another read through, proud to say I’ve now hit the 10,000 word mark of words cut and still have hundreds of thousands left to go. I’m noticing something different this time around though and if you’ll indulge me a little, I need to get it out here and see if the thought still holds true…
I’m thinking a big rewrite may be in order. There, I said it.
The more I’m re-reading this manuscript, the more I’m finding an underlying storyline that I didn’t see before. Again, I’d very much like this to be a series and this is of course, the origin story. But I’ve been noticing that there are things I wrote that have been swept under the rug and could be crucial character traits for later on.
I’m also finding it impossible to figure out where the major cuts have to come from. I’ve said several times that to me, the way it is written now is exactly how I want it to read. But it is so long. Like, so, so long. I’ve been trying to also figure out if I can just cut what I have into several books. I mean, the word count is certainly there for a multiple book series as it is now. However, if I cut it up that way, it won’t make sense. Ok, so next is mixing and matching chapters to reel it in better, but then the flow is lost. If I do a rewrite, I will be able to keep some of what’s there now, introduce more from the side characters and create more depth to the story earlier than what is presented in the draft I already have done.
Another thing I keep going back and forth on is the heavier storyline. This book is half romcom-half serious story with a message. If I keep the romcom aspects with the rewrite, yes, it would be an entire romantic comedy book. I could make the serious storyline a whole separate book but then there goes the FMC’s backstory. I’d also like to be able to use this platform as a way to get the more serious story out there. To prove that survival can happen. That you can in fact, not only move on from a dark past but also start a whole new life on your own terms. Up until this latest read through, I thought I did a damned good job of getting that message out there. Again, it is just a very LONG message. And just how bad do I want the heavier past to be?
If you understood any of that? Way to go! Imagine this going round and round in my head 24/7 even while I’m sleeping. This is life now. Well, this and reading…and watching Hamilton on repeat.
My goal was to have the first draft done by Christmas. I was hoping upon hope that with the new year, I’d have something to submit. Now here it is, November and I may have to rewrite this whole thing. Can I still meet the goal? I guess we’ll have to see! This my friends is what keeps me going. The utter insanity of trying to get a book done by the end of the year, while sick, while trying to get through my TBR list of books and while on meds that some nights? Have me reading the same paragraphs over and over again. I say, place your bets now to see if I can do this. (Hint: I’m damned determined to do this!)
And that is where I am leaving you for today. A crazed ramble of thoughts, more than I usually do, as my brain turns to mush while I read the same story on a loop. I think this time though? I’ve hit the nail on the head of what needs to be done. To pull from what is already written and turn it into the book that I KNOW is inside of me. To do the rewrite and make it something so much better than what I already have done.
And if you’ve been following along with this? Please know, that I think you are awesome and I thank you for being there. Having a platform to work out my issues has been more than therapeutic. It has kept me focused and more than driven than ever to get this done.
Until next time, I wish you all a happy new month and may there be lots of awesome opportunities coming to you over these next weeks! Cheers guys!!
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If you’d like to follow me on social, including my #booktok, you can find my links: linktr.ee/promosocially
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Want to start your holiday shopping? Hit my links around the site! I have lots of shops, many with designs my me on thousands of items that would make great gifts, home decor and ways to treat yourself. You can also hit this: linktr.ee/stuffwemade to find shop links.
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I have lots of fall and holiday themed books listed in my on the bookshelf pages here on the site! Be sure to see the menu bar for my other pages and get yourself some seasonal reads!
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If you’ve made it this far, I can’t thank you enough. Just, thank you. See you soon! 🍁
Hey guys, welcome back! Been busy editing, healing and all that…but with it being Halloween week, I wanted to do a quick post to get you in the mood for the upcoming day where candy has no calories and the ghosts come out to say hello.
For eleven years, I had a local website dedicated to my city. As time went on with it, I started to use the platform to talk about our local history. Our town unfortunately is getting more and more overdeveloped and we are losing so much of our past. So I had an idea…on Halloween, I’d post local legends of our town to get folks more interested in the historical aspects of our CT town. I thought if I could get people interested in a more unusual way, we’d have more folks care that we are losing so much.
For five years, as the clock struck midnight on Halloween, I’d post several stories that looked at the more twisted side of the city. It took massive amounts of research and long nights and I would sometimes start as early as April getting these pieces together. The response I had to them always astounded me. Not being a native here, I was always worried that the stories wouldn’t pass with those born and raised in town. However, I have lived here for over 30 years now and had been briefly active with the local historical society as well as local businesses and again, research, research, research. I’m happy to say, I had such great feedback from my fellow Stamford-ites!
I have them linked here on this site under the ‘Stamford History’ tab, or click HERE to check out the spookier side of the city and get in the mood for Halloween.
Stamford has a hell of a past. From having our own witch trials the same year as Salem had theirs, revolutionary war intrigue at Fort Stamford and of course, we had our own local campfire legend of the Clawman. (Because why not, right?)
I had some interesting things happen while I was researching these pieces, the strangest being the time I was looking up the deaths at an old railroad crossing just as a fire call came over the scanner for that exact location! I mean, what the hell were the odds of that?!
So come on. Grab some popcorn and check out the stories. Get in the Halloween spirit with me!!!
And that is where I’m leaving you for today. Until next time…cheers!
Hey guys, welcome back. I’m sorry I haven’t been exactly consistent here lately. Between being sick and working my ass off on this book, I’ve been losing time for other things. That, of course, needs to change.
However, happy to say that I’m still here and hopefully, so are you!
I’ve been working obsessively on this manuscript and over the past week, week and half, I’ve been able to shave over 7100 words! I’ve even figured out the formula for doing so. I’ve been reworking chapters, changing perspectives and even changing around the order of some chapters.
What’s funny is that for someone who wrote extensively for months, (I mean, over 460,000 words from April to September is pretty extensive) but only cutting and pasting for the last month and a half, my fingers are not as used to flying across the keyboard as they once were.
Last night alone, I rewrote three chapters and my hands were asking me why. I actually found myself laughing. Talking to my fingers and giving them a pep talk. I’ve mentioned before that I have issues with arthritis and other illnesses (yes, I‘m a medical mess) so to unleash them all over again and have them start to do their thing after a much needed break? Sue me for wanting to cheer my fingers on. After all, I need my hands to write. That’s all I want to do. And there is only so much caffeine can help with…even though it is the most wonderful substance on Planet Earth.
So here I am, obsessing night after night creating and in many ways, recreating what I’ve already written to sculpt my words into a better version of what it once was. But we all do this, right? Ok, so maybe not the whole cheerleader thing, but the revising over and over again of our work. I’m starting to truly believe that the writing itself is the ‘easy’ part. That the writing is only 10% of what happens when creating a book. The other 90%? Cutting, moving, reorganizing, cursing and remolding the dialogues into something so tangible that it will become something that you didn’t even envision in the first draft. And in my case, it’s more like 90% cursing 10% everything else.
What I’m having fun with now is giving another main character a bigger voice. Giving him his own perspective. I’ve been really surprised how easy I’ve found it getting into his head. I think it may be because I’ve spent so much time with these characters now that I know what makes them tick. But writing his side has opened up so much more of the story that can be introduced a little earlier than I had originally. For the reader, this is a very good thing. For the writer, it’s giving me more of a creative option that I wish I had seen, or rather utilized earlier. But now that it’s here? I’m going to make the most of it.
In the meantime, this has been an extremely interesting exercise in patience, something I am famous for not having. I think that has been the biggest surprise of all. As impatient as I am for getting this finished, now knowing that the story can be taken up a notch? I’m here for all of it…and hope that in the long run, this will end up being the absolute best that it can be.
And that is where I will leave you for today. Thank you as always for coming back and I do hope to get back to posting more here. In the meantime, having you all bear with me while I’ve been dealing with (what they now think may be long covid), has kept me going and I will never be able to thank you enough for that. You all take care of yourself and remember, Halloween candy has no calories. So treat yourself! (Yes, this is the lie I tell myself every year. Work with me.)
Until next time…cheers all!
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To follow me on social, including #booktok: linktr.ee/promosocially
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Already looking for holiday gifts? Check out the links here on my site, from books to gifts for writers and readers alike, I’ve got a whole lot to see and much of it has been designed by me!
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Looking for a new read? Hit the On the Bookshelf pages here on the site or head to PangoBooks.com (or the PangoBooks app) and use my code: NewChapterCove for $5 off your order.
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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you again. Hope you are all enjoying the Fall season! 🍁🍁🍁
New Chapter Cove 